Danny Samson

A large opportunity exists for Australian organisations to use new and powerful technologies (Artificial intelligence [AI] and Cloud technologies) to transform their businesses to keep pace with or ahead of the leading edge of competitiveness. This book showcases inspirational Australian case studies in order to inspire Australian (and non-Australian) organisations to undertake the challenge. This book synthesises the key learnings and contrasts those with the conventional wisdom on this topic. The book also defines what AI- and Cloud-based business transformations are and what they can do for businesses. Furthermore, it explains why it is imperative that businesses should address the business opportunities of these technological advancements, without going into the technical details any more than the ‘literacy’ that is necessary for business leaders. Finally, it also includes international best practice case studies beyond the usual suspects. This book provides guidance and motivation for business executives, managers and students interested in innovating and transforming their businesses through the use of the two critical new technologies.

A large opportunity exists for Australian organisations to use new and powerful technologies (Artificial intelligence [AI] and Cloud technologies) to transform their businesses to keep pace with or ahead of the leading edge of competitiveness. This book showcases inspirational Australian case studies in order to inspire Australian (and non-Australian) organisations to undertake the challenge. This book synthesises the key learnings and contrasts those with the conventional wisdom on this topic. The book also defines what AI- and Cloud-based business transformations are and what they can do for businesses. Furthermore, it explains why it is imperative that businesses should address the business opportunities of these technological advancements, without going into the technical details any more than the ‘literacy’ that is necessary for business leaders. Finally, it also includes international best practice case studies beyond the usual suspects. This book provides guidance and motivation for business executives, managers and students interested in innovating and transforming their businesses through the use of the two critical new technologies.

This book focuses on leadership and strategy, corporate governance, operational excellence, and corporate social responsibility. In doing so, it offers both conceptual perspectives and case studies on these topics that are targeted at business executives who want to develop and mature towards being successful value creators in their leadership roles. Authored by the former CEO of National Australia Bank (NAB), Don Argus, and business school professor Danny Samson, the book provides insights on the strategic leadership factors that make a significant and positive difference when they are executed effectively and, in contrast, what happens when ineffective leadership/ strategy are deployed. It proposes and illustrates core leadership axioms, and also delves into sustainable development as an element of strategy. The authors do this by developing and illustrating core concepts that relate to the two major case study companies of NAB and BHP.Readers will be particularly interested in the core elements of leadership and strategy, and the grounded reality of how they operated in the case studies. The authors bring insiders’ and leaders’ perspectives to these topics, including tables that document shareholder value creation, and the logic behind strategic decisions, as well as key organisational leadership and strategic decision processes.

Innovation and Entrepreneurship provides a very practical and thoroughly researched introduction to innovation and entrepreneurship. It incorporates the core theme of entrepreneurship within the fabric of innovation and is complemented by a broad range of new case studies across many different industries. The text covers the latest core information about innovation and the disciplined and systematic approach that has led successful innovative companies to their market leading positions and to achieve business success. This is blended with the entrepreneurship aspects of activity that lead to innovation, often in smaller firms and in niches of larger organisations. It provides a systematic breakdown of systematic innovation capabilities and both detailed case studies and mini cases of innovative companies and of entrepreneurs for students and business people to learn from.

Operations Management: An Integrated Approach provides an account of the systems, processes, people and technology that determine an organisation's strategy and success. With contributions from leading experts internationally, the text takes a comprehensive, comparative, and best-practice approach and applies this specifically to the Asia-Pacific region. Rigorous in scholarship yet eminently accessible in style, Operations Management is replete with pedagogical features - figures and tables, discussion exercises, 'Learnings from the Internet', and a diversity of long and short case studies from around the world. Students are taken on a seamless journey from the fundamentals of operations management, through to the multiple approaches, the various innovations, challenges and risks, and ultimately to models of sustainability and evaluative tools and techniques. The text effectively prepares future managers across every sector of the economy to lead, organise, plan and control a set of resources, in pursuit of identified goals. The book will be supported by an extensive companion website featuring PowerPoint slides for each chapter, sample answers, teaching notes and figures/images for presentations.